


Brown Paper Packages Tied Up With String

by fawatson



Series: ITOWverse:  Autumn Holidays 2010 [7]
Category: RENAULT Mary - Works
Genre: Gen, Guy Fawkes Night, ITOWverse, Metafiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-09
Updated: 2010-11-09
Packaged: 2018-05-27 15:00:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6289117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fawatson/pseuds/fawatson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To the Secretary's surprise, a mailman delivers a large package to the Clubhouse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Brown Paper Packages Tied Up With String

It really was most unexpected, mused the Secretary as she carried the parcel into the kitchen.  Something was going on.  She wasn’t quite sure what; but clearly the house (and characters) had plans.  That had been evident for a few days now:  it wasn’t just the ever growing pile of things to burn, but the way characters kept popping in; not to mention discussions hastily ended whenever she came into the room. 

But she hadn’t figured on a mailman turning up at the door, with a package to sign for.  Of course, given the number of letters in the various modern novels there had to be a mailm—no, _post_ man somewhere.  It was simply that one had never been named, not even generally (the way the slaves were in the Ancient novels).  Yet the doorbell had rung; and when she answered, there he had been, in an unmistakable uniform, with bicycle, and a clipboard to sign. 

“That’s a catchy tune,” Miss Fisher remarked, turning back from the kitchen sink where she was washing up. 

No, of course she wouldn’t, the Secretary realised silently, only just identifying the Rogers and Hammerstein melody she was humming under her breath.  It hadn’t been written at the time of her book.  She placed the large package on the table and rooted in one of the drawers for scissors.  Damn!  Where had they gone?  She turned back to look in frustration at the intriguing box. 

“Aren’t you going to open it?” asked Miss Fisher. 

“I can’t find the scissors.”

Miss Fisher shook her head slightly.  Such waste—to cut perfectly good string that way.  She set to work, patiently easing the tight knots until the parcel was untied.  The Secretary sank into one of the kitchen chairs, watching bemused as string was carefully coiled and paper was smoothed and folded, before being placed in a small drawer to one side of the kitchen, ready for reuse at some later date.  (She’d never noticed that drawer before.) 

She lost all interest in the string, however, the moment Miss Fisher began to unpack the contents of the box.  Rockets and starbursts, and the largest Roman candles she ever had seen ... all with Chinese lettering on them. 

And in the very bottom, a hastily scrawled note from Jan:  “I thought these might come in handy.”


End file.
